Beyond All Things
by Lily DeSilva
Summary: After Wesley’s death, a girl shows up in LA, helps the fang gang beat the Senior Partners, and runs off. The thing is…she looks just like Wesley. Chapter 5 is up
1. Reborn

Beyond All things

By: Lily DeSilva

Disclaimer: I don't own, I just write. Don't sue!

Timeline: Not Fade Away

Spoilers: A Hole in the World to Not Fade Away

Summery: After Wesley's death, a girl shows up in LA, helps the fang gang beat the Senior Partners, and runs off. The thing is…she looks just like Wesley. A bunch of mystical twists and turns have the Whyndam-Pryces facing up to all of their demons…together.

"Let's get to work." Angel drew his sword, whipping it around and skillfully killing the first demon. Illyria followed closely, slaughtering everything within reach. Spike tried to help Gunn inch forwards, also killing the beasts.

Hours later…

Six hours…this was probably the longest battle Angel had ever fought consistently. But he had to. This was truly the battle of the century. Maybe even the millennium. This was the end of the world we were talking about. Not some wimpy battle.

The Fang Gang was doing well, though. Six hours, and only the dragon left. Gunn was nearly dead, lying in the alley clutching his stomach and breathing heavily. Spike was barely holing on. If he were not a vampire, he would definitely be dead. There were swords, as well as with other weapons sticking out of his torso. Multiple wounds tattooed his body. Angel was in a similar state. Illyria was the only one who seemed to be okay. She was battling with the dragon, thinking about how much Angel wanted to do that.

Illyria was exhausted. And confused. This didn't happen to a demon goddess! She did not get tired. But the dragon was nearly impossible to beat. She collapsed to the ground, unable to go on. Gunn was in bad shape, and the two vampires were not doing well. If they were to beat The Circle of the Black Thorn, let alone the Senior partners, they needed help and they needed it fast.

Almost as if something could read Illyria's thoughts, a girl appeared out of nowhere. She had curly brown hair and looked strangely familiar. She had a sword and, before anyone could stop her, she was charging at the dragon. In a matter of minutes, she had skillfully beheaded the beast. For the first time in nearly seven hours, the alley was silent. Only the pouring rain dared to make a sound.

Everyone was drenched. The girl dropped her sword and fell to her knees. She looked to the heavens. "This is for Wesley!" She shouted. She then got up, and ran into the night.

No one spoke for quite some time. Angel picked Gunn up, and stumbled into Spike. A once – in – a – lifetime look came upon the bleached blonde vampire's face; for once in his un–life, he was being serious. The look only lasted a few moments, though, before one of his sarcastic remarks escaped his lips.

"What the bloody hell was that about?"

"So, you're all saying that some little white chick stumbled out of the dark, slayed the dragon, yelled something about my best friend and ran away?" Gunn was lying in a hospital bed surrounded by Angel, Spike, and Illyria. She was in 'Fred Form', as not to cause confusion. Not many medical professionals were used to seeing a girl with blue hair and skin.

"Yeah. Bloody amusing, though." Spike laughed. The remark was followed up with a yelp as Angel slapped him. "Bugger off, Nancy boy!"

"Shut up, Spike. We have more important things to worry about. There's a girl running around who looks and smells like Wesley." Angel paced around the small room. "That's either really good, or really bad."

"How could it be bad?" Illyria asked. She still spoke with the tone she always had. Serious. Kind of deadpan.

"It could be very bad. But I'm hoping for good. I don't even know why we're talking about this!" Angel glared around the room.

"Hey, you started it, Peaches!" Spike thrilled. "You started telling Charlie here about what happened after he fainted."

Angel was getting irritated. "Get out, Spike! I've had about enough of you!"

Spike rolled his eyes. "Fine!" he shouted. "C'mon, Blue. Let's go find something to hit."

Illyria smiled, looking eerily like Fred. "I like hitting things." She morphed back to her own form. "Let's go, half-breed."

Angel rolled his eyes as Spike strutted out the door with Illyria at his heels. "Anyways, how are you feeling what with getting shot in the stomach with a crossbow?"

Gunn shrugged. "Kind of like getting shot in the stomach with a crossbow." Angel nodded, empathy showing on his face. "So," Gunn continued, "what's next?"

"We find the girl. She could be a relative of Wesley. She needs to know about him." Angel started pacing again.

"Seems she already knows, what with the whole 'screaming to the heavens' thing."

"I know, but we should still talk to her." Angel grabbed a piece of paper and began to draw. The girl in his picture looked eerily like the real thing; curly hair, almond-shaped eyes, even things no one else noticed.

"Damn, man! She does look like Wes." Gunn tied to sit up, but failed. "Is she, like, his sister or something?"

Angel shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine." He stopped drawing. "What we need is-"

"Wesley." A young woman walking though the door cut him off. She had green hair and was slightly transparent. "You are looking to bring back Mr. Whyndam-Pryce. I can do that." She walked to the bed.

"Who are you?" Angel asked.

"Call me Xarla." She said. "Keeper of lost souls. This Wesley is one. The only way to help him is to bring him back. I have the power to do that."

Gunn got very excited at the sound of this. "You can bring English back?!"

Xarla nodded. "But, at a price."

Angel sighed. "Everything has a price…Maybe one that's too high to pay…One that's life-threatening…What is it?"

"The Powers that be." She answered simply.

"What do you mean?" Angel inquired, stepping forwards.

"One of your own will be cursed with the Powers that be. This has happened before."

"The visions," Gunn whispered

Xarla smiled. "You now know the price. Do you accept?"

"Hell, yes! We've dealt with the visions before; we can handle them now." Gunn shouted.

"So it is done." She said, disappearing.

"Damn, man! That was weird." Gunn shook his head. "Did it work?"

"What do you think?" A distinctly British voice asked.

Angel spun around. A man was standing behind him. A man he had known for over seven years "Wesley?"

Wes smiled. He walked over to Gunn's bed. "How are you feeling, Charles?"

Gunn shrugged. "Kinda like I got shot in the stomach with a crossbow. And did you just answer my question with a question?"

Both Angel and Wesley chose to ignore him. "Wesley, we need to ask you something. Do you have, like, a sister or something? Because, when we were in the alley…"

"Yes, Angel I saw what happened there." Wesley looked at the floor. "And, yes. I do have a sister." He whispered.

"Well?" Gunn asked.

"Lara," Wes's voice was barley audible "Her name is Lara."


	2. WhyndamPryce family history lesson

Beyond All Things Ch. 2

By: Lily DeSilva

Disclaimer: I don't own, I just write. Don't sue!

Timeline: Not Fade Away

Spoilers: A Hole in the World to Not Fade Away

A/N: I can't take full credit for any of the chapters. My co-writer (Jazzmaster) and I are very pleased with the reviews. Keep 'em coming!!

"Okay, time for a little Whyndam-Pryce family history lesson!" Gunn was lying in bed with Angel, Wesley, Spike and Illyria at his side. Angel had called everyone back to the hospital to hear about the girl. Wesley had confirmed that the girl in Angel's drawing was his sister, Lara.

"As you know, my father and I didn't get along very well. Well, part of that was…my brother. There were three of us, you see. My brother, James, was the oldest. He's three years older than me. He was always my father's favorite. He never got criticized. Yet he held something against me my whole life.

"Obviously, I was next. It was just James and I for quite some time Eighteen years, in fact. I was still in school, and James was abroad. That was when Lara was born.

"My father was very old fashioned. He wanted only boys, and when he found out my mother was pregnant, he insisted on the name Charles."

Gunn smiled. "Oh, yeah! Best name in history!"

Wesley nodded. "My father ha his heart set on having a little boy. When he found out it was a girl, he was outraged. He wanted nothing to do with the upbringing of this child. He arranged have he sent away when she was three years old. None of the rest of us knew about this."

Angel shook his head. "No wonder you hate your dad."

"Oh, and that's not even the worst thing he did," Wes continued, "but I'll get to that later. When my baby sister was born, James and I came home to see her. That was the only time he and I ever got along. We named her together. Lara. That was the name we chose. I remember I suggested the name and he said, 'A beautiful name for a beautiful girl', and we smiled at each other.

"Because m father wanted Charles, we decided to call her Charley as a nickname. Charley with an 'ey' at the end. When Charley was three years old, my mother fun out about my father's plan. She insisted that we go with he to Canada. That was where my dad had planned to send her. So, my mum, dad, and I went to Montréal with Charley, while James stayed in England with his new job. He worked for the watcher's council.

"We stayed there for five years. When Lara was eight, my dad abandoned her. I was working for the council by then, and my mum had gone back to England. As far as I know, my dad left one day and didn't come back. Charley was told that he was dead. That we didn't care about her."

Spike shook hid head. "How horrible," he started, but everyone looked at him. "I'm serious! For once in my life I'm being serious!"

Wesley shook his head, tears in his eyes. "I miss her so much. It's been sever years."

"Well, do you have a picture? Maybe talking about it will make you feel better." Angel stepped forwards.

Tears shimmering in his eyes, Wesley reached into his wallet. He extended a photograph of three people. One was obviously Wesley. The other man looked almost the same, but his eyes were hazel and his expression was cold. There was a little girl with them. She had the sane striking blue eyes, the same wavy brown hair as Wes. On the back it said: 'James, 24, Wesley, 21, Lara, 3 years.'

The picture was passed around the circle, Wesley crying the whole time. It was quite the sight, two grown men (one crying), a girl with a solid expression and two vampires. Eventually, Wesley excused himself for a drink of water.

"Damn," Gunn commented, "Wes's got a tough life. His dad being abusive, Fred, demon hunting, Fred, love issues, Fred, his brother, Fred, his sister, Fred, and did I mention…Fred?"

Illyria's eyes narrowed. "This human mocks me. I wish him pain."

Spike put his hand on Illyria's shoulder. "Hold on there, blue. First off, we all loved Fred, especially Percy. You took that away from us. Totally your fault." The vampire paused as Wesley walked in. "And second, Charlie's right…oh…I guess we can't call him that anymore. Now that we have another Charley on our hand."

"What?" Wes asked he seemed kind of out of it.

"Well, we are finding your sister, aren't we?" Angel asked.

Wesley smiled. "Thanks, guys. Thanks a whole lot."

"What else can you tell us about Lara?" Angel asked.

Wesley shrugged. "I haven't seen or heard from her in seven years. All I can assume is that she still has the same brown hair and blue eyes as me. She's strong, and she knows about vampires and such. She's smart, too. She speaks almost the same amount of languages as me." Wes gave a little smile. "I remember…I gave her a necklace for her fifth birthday. It was simple, just a gold chain with a little ladybug on it. She…she told me that she would never take it off." He looked down. "If she still wears it, it'll be a miracle."

A/N. Next chapter: we meet Lara for the first time… coming soon!


	3. Story of a girl

Beyond All Things Ch. 3

By: Lily DeSilva and The Jazz Master

Disclaimer: I don't own, I just write. Don't sue!

Timeline: Not Fade Away

Spoilers: A Hole in the World to Not Fade Away

Summery: After Wesley's death, a girl shows up in LA, helps the fang gang beat the Senior Partners, and runs off. The thing is…she looks just like Wesley.

A/N: I know. Long time between updates…But here it is! Chappie 3

The sign read 'Morson's home for orphaned children', but the interior looked ore like a summer camp. Twelve cabins on each the girl's and boy' side had bunk beds and housed about fourteen people each. There was a dining hall and multiple classrooms; about three hundred people roamed the grounds wearing second hand, but nice clothing. It was nothing like your stereotypical orphanage.

The grounds were empty. That was to be expected at one o'clock in the morning. Only the crickets were chirping. But all at once, the stopped. A young girl walked out of a cabin. She was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, and her hair in a bun; a ladybug necklace dangled around her neck.

She walked briskly out of the grounds, her left hand concealed in her pocket the whole time. She gazed around suspiciously, eyeing a rustling bush. Her brow furrowed. She drew her left hand out of the pocket, revealing a wooden steak. Without another thought, she hurled the steak into the bush.

A thud was heard. A small yelp. And then, a man rose out of the bush slowly. The girl's body tensed, her eyes on the figure, and you could almost hear her thinking, "oh, crap."

"Damn, Lara! That was close!" the man came into the light, shaking leaves off his coat.

She girl sighed. "Jesse! Don't scare me like that!"

"Lara Whyndam-Pryce! You know not to steak anything unless I'm around. You could get hurt!"

Lara rolled her eyes. "So, what am I supposed to do? Let myself get killed? I'm not going to get killed by a simple vampire! And also, it's Laura _Pryce_. I don't want my father finding me."

Jesse smiled. "Aw, you know I know you can kill a vampire, but I don't want you to get hurt! You're just a kid!"

She smiled back at him. "Shall we go?" she asked, her Canadian dialect showing traced of a British one.

The pair walked trough a forest, looking quite peculiar. 'Laura' was eyeing everything with caution, a new steak in her hand. She glanced at Jesse.

"So, what were you doing in the bushes?" She inquired, playing with her necklace.

He shrugged. 'Alice caught me on grounds the other day." Lara scowled. Alice, the director of the 'camp' was really strict. "She said if she caught me again, she would personally decapitate me. I think I want to keep my head. I figured that you would see me, and everything would be okay. I didn't think you'd try to steak me. If I hadn't ducked, I would have a steak impaled in my brain right now."

"Totally not my fault. One, you were the one who taught me how to play darts, and two, things are really creepy these days. Too many vamps around, and only me to slay them."

Jesse stopped dead in his tracks. "Lara, you are keeping in mind that you aren't the Slayer, right? You may be from a family of Watchers, and you may have Slayer strength, but you don't have healing abilities or anything else! You aren't a Chosen One!"

Lara shrugged. "I know. I'm being careful. Don't worry too much about me, Jesse! I can take care of myself."

Jesse sighed. Playing makeshift Watcher to an over-zealous fourteen-and-a-half year-old was no piece of cake. He watched her, marching around with the image in her head that she was some sort of mini-Slayer, but not really understanding the dangers of what she did. 'This poor girl,' he thought, 'grown up before her time.'

She had a tough life. Abandoned at the age of eight by her insane father, Lara had grown up without any friends. She seemed to withdraw into herself more and more as she got older and older. The only time she could be herself was at night, when she Slayed vampires alongside Jesse. After being brought to Morson's home, she discovered her Slayer powers, even though they were limited. Jesse, an eighteen-year-old student of philosophy was studying the Occult in hopes of making the world a better place, agreed to be her 'Watcher'. Every night, they patrolled together; every night he watched her kill to vent her anger; every night, he saw her run away from the fake life of the scared, shy little girl she lived every day.

Jesse glanced at his watch. Four o'clock A.M. "Lara!" he called out. "Three hours is up! Wake-up in two-and-a-half hours! Let's go!"

Lara dropped the vampire she was currently beating. She rolled her eyes. "Fine, coming!" she called. She then proceeded to casually stead the vampire and walk away without another thought.

Jesse put his arm around her. "You do know that you can't run forever, right?"

Lara stared at him. "Wow, Jess. That was random."

He shrugged. I've been thinking about it for a while; you have two brothers, a mother, and a father. Someone's bound to come and get you soon. Even if your parents were dead, both of your brothers are old enough to take custody."

Lara's eyes narrowed. "Shut up!" she snarled. "How dare you mention my family? I have no family!" She ran, crying, into Jesse's stomach and began punching him, over and over, and over.

"Shh, Lara. It'll be okay." He held her close as she broke down and started to sob. There was no romantic relationship between, just the love of a brother and sister. For seven years he had been the closest she had to a family. As he held the shaking girl, Jesse Miller realized, she really was only a girl. A girl who desperately needed a family.

Ya, ya, ya…I know. Cornieness. But it will get better with a little bit of Wes/Fred fluff…That's just me. Nothing major, just a little flashback…Hope you like

PLEASE RR OR I WILL BE FORCED TO SIC WESLEY ON YOU!


	4. Oak Trees

Beyond All Things Ch. 4

By: Lily DeSilva

Disclaimer: I don't own, I just write. Don't sue!

Timeline: Not Fade Away

Spoilers: A Hole in the World to Not Fade Away

Summery: After Wesley's death, a girl shows up in LA, helps the fang gang beat the Senior Partners, and runs off. The thing is…she looks just like Wesley.

A/N: Sorry about the long wait…I've had a lot of things on my mind…

Wesley sighed. With his head in his hands, he flipped a page in the old volume he was poring over. His brown hair fell into his eyes as he began translating the Latin text onto a piece of paper. He brushed it away with his strong hand. He hadn't bothered to get a haircut in ages. Not since Fred had died. He found no reason to. He didn't care anymore. As Gunn had said in the hospital (he was listening through the door), his life was tough. His father, brother, sister, Fred and being a watcher who was kicked off the council had all been major players in the screwed up story that was his life.

He sighed again as Illyria, strolled into the office at the Hyperion Hotel. After Gunn was released from the hospital, they decided to continue Angel Investigations. Pick up where they left off. Gunn was back to being the street-fighter of the group. Presently, he was polishing his favorite ax, his dark hands gleaming. Angel and Spike were drinking pig's blood in the lobby, and Wesley Wyndam-Pryce was depressed.

"Why do your eyes emit water?" the old one asked.

Wesley took a deep breath. He never used to have problems talking to Illyria, but now every time he looked at her he saw Fred. More so than before.

"I was remembering," Wes said, looking back down at the Source book that they had stolen from Wolfram and Hart. It was the very same book that had, at Wesley's whisper, turned into A Little Princess the day Fred had died.

"Remembering what? Why remember if it causes one's eyes to water?" Illyria crossed her arms and glared at him.

"I was remembering many things. Winifred, my childhood, and my sister." He removed his glasses, rubbing his eyes slowly.

Illyria sighed. Humans were just too complicated. She stood up and walked out the door with not so much as a good bye.

Wesley slumped down in his chair. Slowly, he let his mink drift back to the biggest thing on his mind; his time with Fred.

_A field. A single tree. 'Oak,' he thought as he walked, hand in hand with her. Fred. The name itself brought joy to his heart. He pulled her into a close embrace, kissing the top of her head softly._

_ "You do know I love you, right?" he asked her softly._

_ She kissed him back. "Of course I do, Wesley! I love you too. I love you more than anything. I love you more than life itlesf."_

_ "Now, you can't be serious." He sat down on the ground, leaning on the oak tree._

_ Fred flopped into his lap, leaning into Wes's chest. She loved being with him, even tough they had only been together for a few days._

_ Wesley reached out to play with her hair, speaking softly into her ear. "So, what _is_ better about me than life?"_

_ Fred shrugged. "I dunno. You're just so sweet and nice, and you always know the right thing to say, and…well…I think that the most important thing about life is having great people like you in it."_

_ Wes stopped stroking her hair. "Great people like me?" he asked. " You think I'm great?"_

_ Fred smiled and leaned in for another kiss. "Always," she whispered._

As the memory ended, Wesley crash landed back into the reality that was life. Fred was dead. There was nothing he could do about that. He sighed, and returned to his reading.

Oblivious to him, Illyria stood outside the office. She saw him cry more as he remembered his time with the shell she now inhabited. She shook her head slightly to herself.

"One must find a way to get Winifred back."

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The girl known as Laura Pryce sat in a chair, sipping a milkshake, a small, pointy object in her hands. She sighed, and let the dart go flying from her hand to the board on the wall. She smiled as the dart hit the center. "One hundred and eighty," she whispered.

Having thrown her last dart, she turned away from the wall, back to the table where she was sitting alone. She pulled two necklaces away from her shirt. One had a tiny ladybug on it. She smiled, and let it drop to her chest. Carefully, she studied the second chain.

The dog tags had her real name, and two pictures on them. She read the name, reminding herself who she _really_ was.

"Lara 'Charley' Elisabeth Wyndam-Pryce." she read

Tears in her eyes, she carefully looked at the photographs. One of a man smiling up at her, and the other of the same man, but he was standing with another girl.

She traced the picture of the man with her little finger. "Wesley."

The waiter brought her another chocolate milkshake. "Here, Kid"

Lara looked up. "Thanks, Jesse." She said, as her makeshift watcher slid into the booth. She tucked the necklaces back under her shirt.

"Good night last night?" Jess asked.

"What do you think?"

"I just thought I'd ask. Y'know…make with the normal-image type thing."

Lara smiled. "I'm anything but normal."

Miles and miles away, on the other side of the Canada-US boarder, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce was showing his passport to a security guard. After being approved, he drove across the boarder into Canada, and began the journey to the city of Montréal to find, possibly, the only sane family he had left.

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A/N: Sorry about the shortness….Next chapter is a lot of history about the families, and will come quicker, I promise!


	5. Rescue? And fights

A/N: Well, here it is…Chapter 5. I know it's been a while between updates, but I've been super busy (I know…that's my usual excuse, but its true). This is not my favourite chapter, but it needed to happen. It just clears some stuff up, and explains some. It's still a little confusing…the next chapter is in the making (I'll try to be quicker), and it will be better…I promise! Hugs! Lily….And by the way….please review! I will know if you have read it, so why not take the 30 seconds to push the little purpleish button at the bottom of the screen to review! It makes me feel so much better, and if there are good reviews, I will be motivated to write more, and much faster!

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Jesse Miller started off life in a good, middle class family. He was the oldest of three children, and was always fond of his youngest sibling (and only sister) Alexandra. Jess always loved science, but also loved studying the paranormal. He became obsessed with the occult at the age of ten, and had spent most of his teen years wandering the streets of Montreal, Quebec, looking for more reading material. He learned to speak so many languages, not all of them human, and started hanging out in underground demon bars, even making a few friends. Before the age of sixteen, he had staked a few vampires, but on the eve of his sixteenth birthday, he had come home to find his family dead…all with two "unidentifiable" bite-marks on their necks, and drained of blood. It was on that day that Jesse Miller decided that he would take his revenge, and fight vampires for the rest of his life.

So when Lara told him that she was running off to Los Angeles to help a vampire, Jesse hit the roof. He could understand that she wanted to help her dead brother, but why did she want to help a vampire?

She returned a few days after, drenched in rain and crying. She had used a spell to portal there, as not to waste time. Jesse had learned how to when he was 17, and they both found it useful to transport themselves, so they used it often.

He had tried to comfort her, but Lara seemed inconsolable at the thought of the loss of her older brother. Even though she hadn't seen him in over seven years, Lara always spoke highly of Wesley, more so than the rest of her family, anyways. Apparently, he was always there for her. Jesse didn't bother to mention his "leave of absence" in her life for the past seven years.

But still he grieved with her, for he knew her pain. The pain of not having a family.

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He had taught her how to fence. With foils, epees, sabers, it didn't matter. He taught her anyways. Even when their father yelled, insisting that they stop, not for her safety, but because "girls weren't allowed", they continued.

They ignored him.

He also taught her archery. He was positive, at one point that she would be the best in the council. She had a certain talent for sports, and always had.

But all that ended.

He started coming to visit less and less as his duties grew and grew. She withdrew into herself more and more as she grew older and older. And then she disappeared.

He hadn't seen her for seven and a half years, and it killed him inside.. He wasn't there to protect her when she needed it most.

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Lara hated it here. Morson's was the absolute worst place to be. Well, maybe not; the streets were worse.

But, even so, she hated it.

She much preferred going out at night, staking vampires and fighting demons. There, she could get lost, get away from the screwed up story that was her life. There, she could pretend that someone still cared about her.

But someone did care.

It was by total coincidence that she met Jesse on that warm August night several years ago. Ever since that night, they had patrolled together. Every night, she snuck out of Morson's, and he met her.

Jesse also worked at the local diner, so they met there often, and talked while Lara did her work. On top of slaying and school, Lara had two regular jobs to help pay for some food and such (for when she snuck out of Morson's for longer periods of time), so she met him there every day to do her homework and get updates on vamp activity in the area.

If anyone was on the outside of her life looking in, they would never guess that Lara Wyndam-Pryce was who she really was. For one thing, she had changed her name to Laura Pryce so that her father wouldn't find her. For another, she just seemed normal. She got good grades, worked hard, such and such. The only odd thing about her life was that she seemed very anti-social, and always looked tired.

Well, that's what you get for only getting four hours of sleep every night!

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After he had crossed the boarder into Canada, Wesley started immediately for Montreal, the place that his sister was last seen. He knew that he was in for a long drive, and possibly a stay in Montreal. He knew that his little sister probably held a grudge against him, but he had to try to get her back. He smiled as he thought of her. She reminded him so much of the happy times in his life, when he had a family.

Of course, it's not like she would go with him willingly, in all likelihood. He knew that. After all, she hadn't seen or heard from him in seven year, and if your brother had, basically, ran away, you wouldn't be too thrilled either.

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One Week later

"You wanted to see me, Alice?" Lara meandered into the head office at Morson's, and took a seat across the desk from Alice Watson.

"Yes, Laura," Alice responded, moving some files around. "I'm concerned about you. You've been getting more and more quiet lately. And you look so tired. Do you…want to talk? About anything?

A number shot through Lara's mind. Seven. "Seven years, seven months, seven days…"

"What was that?" Alice asked.

Snapping out of her trance, the young girl cast her eyes upwards. "Nothing"

"Laura, are you sure?" The director asked.

Lara shook her head. "Sorry, Alice. No, I'm fine, really. Just a little…under the weather. That's all"

Alice nodded once. "Well, in that case, I need one more thing. A man came here today. He looked sort of like you. Said his name was…Wyndam-Pryce?" said Alice, consulting one of the many notepads on her desk. "Something like that. Laura, is he of any relation? Because if he is, you can go with him…live with him. We'll do background checks and stuff, of course, but…whadda ya think?"

Lara's eyes had gone strangely wide. She shook her head. "W-Wyndam-Pryce? Never hearde the name before, Alice." She gave a nervous smile.

Alice frowned. "Are you sure? He looked strangely like you…the same colour hair…and the eyes. Just like yours!"

The adolescent stood up fast. "I have to go now, Alice." She ran out of the office.

Alice shook her head. "I always knew that kid was weird."

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"Jesse!" Lara was practically screaming as she ran into Dan's Diner. She selected a table and ran straight to it, Jesse at her heels. She started to calm down after a 'mandatory chocolate shake' as imposed upon her by Jesse.

"Now, are you better?" Jesse asked.

Lara swallowed, nodded, and took a deep breath. "We have a huge problem. Wesley's in town."

It took a little while for this information to sink in. Jesse nodded. "That's great…What are you talking about, Lara? Isn't Wesley dead?"

"Jesse, you and I both know that dead people don't always stay that way!"

"You mean…" Jesse scratched his chin.

"He apparently spoke with Alice. I don't know much else. As I'd assume that it was daylight when they were talking, but let's not rule out vampirism. As for zombies-"

"Lara, couldn't he could have just come back?" Jesse leaned forwards in his seat and studied the young girl carefully.

Lara stopped. "Come back?"

The young man nodded. "A witch could bring someone back from the dead."

Lara shook her head, sending her ponytail flying. "Come back? Like, as in human?"

"Come back, like, as in human."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Another night. Another patrol. Even though he was in a different city, Wes felt the need to walk around with his weapons and blow the hell out of any stupid demons and/or vampires that happened to pass his way. It was a great way to vent his anger and frustration.

Tonight he was in a rather large park not too far from the orphanage where he asked about Lara. The director had never heart of Lara Wyndam-Pryce, but she said that there was a Laura Pryce. He had been told all about her and her bad habits of running away. That sure did sound like his little sister Lara.

He sat down on a swing and let his mind wander to his past few days in Montreal.

He had decided to go find his sister by himself. He thought that, maybe if it was just him she might trust him. He had no idea how she would react to, let's say, Illyria or, God forbid, Spike.

A sigh escaped his lips as Wesley started to stand. It was nearly three in the morning, almost time to go back to he hotel.

As Wes rose to his feet and began to walk away from the swing set, he heard a rustle in he bushes. Slowly, he turned around, one hand reaching to the stake hidden in his belt. The rustling persisted, and then, suddenly, it stopped. Wesley, slightly relieved, turned back around. 'Stray dog" he thought.

So he fully didn't expect what happened next. A scream, very similar to a war cry, echoed through the still, cold night, All of a sudden, something hit Wes.

Truthfully, it was a small something, about five-foot-three, maybe 120 pounds, but it hit hard, all the same. His instincts kicking in, Wes began to fight back, whipping around and punching the something. It fought back and very well too. It seemed to know Wes's moves, matching his fighting style almost blow for blow. It was almost as if the two fighters had the same style. But that couldn't be…unless…

The thought was so shocking that Wes lost his concentration, and before he knew it, he was lying on the ground, his attacker on top of him and holding a stake to his heart. Her eyes…bright and blue shined in the moonlight. A small ladybug on a chain dangled around her neck, clanking against a pair of dog tags. Wes could hardly believe it. Could it be? Could it really be her?

The shock was so great that only one word escaped his lips. A simple word. Just a name.

"Charley?"

The figure's facial expression immediately changed. Within the time span of about two milliseconds, it went from determination to shock. She backed away from him slowly, a mistrusting look of her face A single word sneered from her mouth.

"Wesley."


End file.
